Three of 10 ‘Slices of Justice’ is a good start

After a season of campaigning, we, the Grow Hartford Youth, are proud to announce that three of our 10 slices in our “10 Slices of Justice” campaign to improve Hartford Public High School lunches will be a reality in the fall of 2016.

On March 28 the Grow Hartford Youth launched our “10 Slices of Justice” campaign at the Hartford Public Library. Through community support and with the help of various youth programs around Hartford we were able to create “10 Slices of Justice” that outline 10 ways in which to improve school lunch.

To start, we decided to break down the 10 slices and focus on three that are important to improving the quality of lunch. The 3 slices address youth voice, hot breakfast, and knowledge behind the food.

Grow Hartford Youth leaders recently met with the Food Director of Nutrition Services, Lonnie Burt, and the Chief of Health, Nutrition and Family Services for the Connecticut Department of Education, John Frassinelli, to discuss the first three slices we want to implement.

We are happy to announce that Grow Hartford will be working alongside Hartford Food Services to provide students with knowledge behind food (Slice 5) by creating nutrition labels at each serving station, where students can see the ingredient list and nutrition facts of the food they are being served.

Students will also be surveyed once a month to voice their opinions on the food they are being served and suggest changes they would like to see, thus increasing youth voice (Slice 10) in the school lunch decision making process.

Additionally, hot breakfast (Slice 8) will be an option every day at all Hartford Public High Schools.

We will continue to work alongside the students to offer enticing, culturally relevant options and to achieve the remaining 7 slices of our “10 Slices of Justice”.

We would like to thank the community for their support during this process, especially Compass Junior Peacebuilders, Chief Operating Officer Donald Slater, and those who came to our planning meeting. We could not have accomplished this youth-led victory without you.

We appreciate the collaboration between Lonnie Burt, John Frassinelli, and the Grow Hartford Youth Program. We look forward to working together to continue to improve the conditions of school lunch for all Hartford Public School students.

To learn more about Grow Hartford Youth Program and about our campaign, visit our Facebook “Grow Hartford Youth Program” or contact us by e-mail growhartfordyouth@gmail.com.

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